Refrigerator



Oct. 9, 1934M Y J. R. ALDEN 1,975,823

REFRIGERATOR Filed Feb. 15. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [mm g,

' INVENTOR m ,042 M ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE My invention relates to refrigerators of the mechanical type;that is, to the type wherein electrical or gas operated means associatedwith or incorporated in the refrigerator operates to cool the foodcompartment by extracting the heat therefrom, as distinguished from thetype of refrigerator which is cooled by a supply of ice. The termmechanical refrigerator will be used to refer, broadly, to any type ofrefrigerator supplied with its own cooling mechanism whetherelectrically or gas operated. The object of the present invention is toprovide a refrigerator having two or more distinct food or coolingchambers and to so dispose the refrigerator in relation to the dividingwall or walls of a building that the separate food or coolingcompartments will each be accessible from different sides of thedividing wall wherein the refrigerator is mounted, so that occupants ofapartments which are separated by the dividing wall will each haveaccess to an individual section or food chamber of a refrigeratoradapted to serve the occupants of two or more apartments.

The tenants of one apartment will have access to only one foodcompartment, or one unit of the whole refrigerator, so that, as far asthe storage of food is concerned, the tenants of each apartment will beindependent of those of the adjacent apartment because the severalcompartments of the common refrigerator are divided off or separated bya dividing wall between the units; and this wall is preferably made ofheat insulating material.

As far as maintaining the interior of the refrigerator clean or sanitaryis concerned, the tenants of each apartment will keep their individualcompartments of the refrigerator clean the same as if they employedseparate refrigerators and any neglect on the part of the tenant of oneapartment will not affect the sanitary condition of the refrigeratorcompartment of the neighboring tenant. In this respect the presentapparatus has "all the advantages of separate refrigerators.

The advantages obtained by employing the present invention are asfollows: First, there is a conservation of space because a portion ofthe duplex refrigerator described herein is disposed within the buildingwall dividing the different apartments, and therefore the differentunits of the refrigerator do not have to project into the room of eachapartment as far as independent refrigerators of the same capacity wouldhave to project, so that the saving in effective space is equal to thethickness of the building dividing wall multiplied by the height andwidth of the refrigerator disposed within the wall. Secondly, only onedividing wall is required in the duplex refrigerator to separate twofood compartments, thereby eliminating one wall as distinguished fromwhat would be used with separate refrigerators.

The elimination of one wall reduces the overall dimensions of the duplexrefrigerator over the space which would be occupied by two independentrefrigerators.

A single generator or cooling apparatus may be used for the purpose ofcooling the several independent compartments of the refrigerator, inwhich case there will be a saving in the cost of operation over that oftwo separate refrigerators.

However, if desired, each unit of the duplex refrigerator may besupplied with its own generator or cooling apparatus. In the latter casethe generators will be associated with the several units of therefrigerator and will be under the control of each tenant separately.

The present invention is of particular advantage where'refrigerators arefurnished as part of the equipment of apartments, or in other words,where the installation is made by the landlord. The cost of equipping anapartment building with the present device will be less than where eachapartment is individually equipped with a separate refrigerator becausethe cost of construction of a duplex refrigerator will be less than thecost of individual refrigerators of each apartment.

I have illustrated my invention in two forms. In one the units arearranged in tandem, whereas in the other form they are arranged side byside. Either form may be used, according to the particular conditions tobe met. Other advantages will be set forth in the following detaileddescription of my invention.

In the drawings forming part of this application,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator embodying my invention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view. taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is an elevation of a refrigerator showing my invention in amodified form and showing the wall in section,

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 4,

Figure 6 is a view taken on the line 66 of Figure 4, and

Figure 7 is a sectional view through the floor and showing the lowerportion of a refrigerator in elevation, in which form the generator iscomposed of two independent sections.

In the construction shown in Figures 1-3 I have shown a refrigeratorcomposed of a single shell or housing 1 the walls of which may beconstructed in accordance with present practice. I have illustrated theshell ascomposed of an outer sheathing 2 which may be made of metal,together with an inner lining 3, preferably made of metal; and betweenthese there is a filler of heat insulating material such as compositioncork, as shown at 4, formed in slabs and assembled between the parallelwalls of the shell.

In the construction illustrated in Figures 1-3 the outer shell includesa top wall 5 co-extensive with the front to back depth of therefrigerator, which includes the two sections A and'B, arranged intandem, or one behind the other. Likewise, there are side walls 6,bottom wall '7 and at the front of the section A there is a front wall 8which is provided with the usual door opening 9 adapted to be closed bythe hinged door 10. Within the cooling chamber 11 there may be providedthe usual shelves 12 for supporting the various articles of food orother materials which are to be kept cool. At 13 I have shown a rackadapted to hold the ordinary trays 14 in which ice cubes may be formed,all of these parts conforming to present practice or any desiredmodification of it.

The section B which lies behind the section A is provided with a frontwall 15 which also has a door opening adapted to be closed by a hingeddoor 16, and the same is a duplication of the corresponding members ofthe section A. The section B will have suitable shelves, together with arack for ice cube trays, and these may all be arranged the same as inthe section A. The sections A and B have common outer walls, includingthe top, bottom and sides.

Within the interior of the shell there is a dividing wall extendingcrosswise of the shell for the purpose of dividing the interior of therefrigerator into at least two cooling chambers. In the drawings I haveshown this wall as composed, in

part, of the opposed rear walls 17, 18 of the metal lining of each ofthe compartments, these linings being separated from each other, and thespace between them is filled with an insulating material such as theslabs 19 of cork composition. In other words, it is preferable to makethis dividing wall of heat insulating material so that if one of theunits, such as B, is not in operation at all times in relation to theunit A, the latter will nevertheless be insulated to prevent theexcessive ingress of heat. 7

Likewise, if the section A is out of use, the section B will be fullyinsulated and will not be affected by the fact that the unit A istemporarily out of use. Or, in case one tenant should leave the door tothe cooling compartment open, it will not necessarily render the unit ofthe adjacent tenant inoperative. In Figure 1 I have showndiagrammatically a compartment 20 at one side of the cooling compartmentwherein the generator or mechanical refrigerating apparatus may beenclosed. I have not shown in detail any particular type of coolingapparatus as the same is not a part of the invention, it beingunderstood that any cooling apparatus may be used as far as the presentinvention is concerned.

The refrigerator shown in Figures 1-3 is mounted so that it extendsthrough the wall 21 which is a dividing wall between two rooms, or

two apartments C and D, disposed respectively on opposite sides of thedividing wall.

The refrigerator is, therefore, disposed so that the shell extendsthrough an opening 22 in the dividing wall which opening is made toconform to the dimensions and shape of the exterior of the refrigeratorin order to avoid substantial openings between this wall and therefrigerator shell.

Preferably, the refrigerator is so disposed that it will project fromeach side of the dividing wall the same extent, or in other words, thedividing Wall lies intermediate the length of the refrigerator fromfront to back, as is illustrated in the drawings. This leaves thesection A projecting into the room of the apartment C and the tenant ofthis apartment has full access to the cooling chamber in the section Afor the purpose of storing food in this particular compartment. The door10 provides access to this compartment of the refrigerator and thetenant will use the section A the same as if the section B were notpresent. The compartment 11 is fully insulated, including the dividingwall, so that this compartment may be maintained cool regardless of thecondition of the cooling compartment in the section B..

Likewise, the tenant in the apartment D has independent access to thecompartment 23, the door of this compartment serving to close thiscompartment. The tenant in the apartment D will therefore utilize thesection B of the refrigerator for storing food. The tenants in theseparate apartments therefore have access only to their respectivecompartments of the duplex refrigerator.

If desired, separate generators may be arranged at the side of thesections A and B, or a single generator may be employed to cool thecompartments of both sections A and B. This is a mat ter of choice andmy invention may be utilized with either of the arrangements described.

In Figures 4-7 I have shown a modified form of the invention. In thiscase the section E and the section F are arranged in a common shell 24the same as in the first construction, but the compartments 25, 26 facein relatively different directions to that in the first construction.For instance, in the section E the wall 27 forms the front wall of thisunit and the door opening 28 is in this front wall and is adapted to beclosed by the hinged door 29. The section F has its corresponding dooropening and corresponding door 29 adjacent the wall 30 which forms thefront wall of this section. The refrigerator is mounted in a suitableopening 31 in'the wall 32 which divides the apartments similar to thefirst construction.

In this arrangement the front walls of the units of the refrigerator aredisposed at right angles to the dividing wall 32 of the apartments,whereas in the first described form the front walls are parallel withthe dividing wall and are the walls furthest away from the latter. Inother respects, the constructions are the same.

It will be obvious that the refrigerator is not limited to an embodimentadapting it to two apartments only as it is obvious that if three orfour adjacent apartments are divided by several dividing walls thenumber of units of the refrigerator may be multiplied at least to theextent of four distinct units, each one serving an independentapartment.

As shown in Figure 4 a single generator may be arranged in thecompartment 33 to serve for cooling the cooling chambers of both unitsof the refrigerator or two separate smaller generators may be arrangedin the compartments 33 From the above it will be apparent that therefrigerator not only projects into the separate apartments but it ispartly confined within the dividing wall, so that each particularsection of the refrigerator projects into the individual apartment'to alesser extentthan if a separate refrigerator of the same capacity weremounted in the ordinary way entirely within the confines of theapartment. In other words, the space within the wall opening occupied bythe refrigerator reduces the space occupied by the respective sectionsof the refrigerator in the different apartments over what would beoccupied by independent refrigerators. Furthermore, the cost of makingthe combined or duplex refrigerator is less than would be the cost ofindependent refrigerators for the separate apartments. The tenant ineach apartment has a separate and independent cooling chamber which isunaffected by the cooling chamber in the opposite apartment.

Therefore, if one tenant is negligent in maintaining the coolingcompartment of his or her unit in sanitary condition, there is no injuryto the other tenant because the two compartments are separated andinsulated from each other.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: 1. A refrigeratorincluding a shell adapted to be arranged to extend through an opening ina dividing wall of a building, whereby portions of the shell will extendinto different rooms of the building on different sides of the dividingwall, said refrigerator havinga plurality of cooling chambers and adividing wall separating said chambers, and separate doors in saidrefrigerator providing separate access to said plurality of coolingchambers of said refrigerator in the separate rooms.

2. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extendthrough an opening in a dividing wall of -a building, whereby portionsof the shell will extend into different rooms of the building ondifferent sides of the dividing wall, said refrigerator having aplurality of cooling chambers and a dividing wall of heat insulatingmaterial separating said chambers, and separate doors in saidrefrigerator accessible in the rooms of different sides of the dividingwall whereby the cooling chambers of the refrigerator are separatelyaccessible in the rooms on different sides of the dividing wall.

3. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extendthrough an opening in a dividing wall of a building, whereby portions ofthe shell will extend into different rooms of the building and differentsides of the dividing wall, said refrigerator having a plurality ofcooling chambers arranged in the same horizontal plane, and adividingwall separating said chambers, and separate doors in saidrefrigerator providing separate access to said plurality of coolingchambers in the separate rooms. I

4. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extendthrough an opening in a dividing wall of a building and projecting intothe rooms on different sides of the dividing Wall, said refrigeratorhaving a plurality of separate coolingchambers arranged in tandem, and alaterally extending dividing wall in said refrigerator separating saidchambers, and separate doors in the front walls of said refrigeratordis-

